But the real point of it all was to hand over some cash. There were 32 cash awards to deserving and high achieving kids to help keep them at school.

The kids strutted their stuff... dancing in their tribal costumes, playing in the band and so on... parents did the food, Chang provided free water and discount booze (seriously).... and of course, the skimpy Chang girls. Hmmm.

This lovely lady made a guest singing appearance with the band

Phil, Som and the Riders Corner staff beat an early retreat to get the restaurant open... but were able to take in the dancing.

That be Phil with the camera

If I new my tribes, I'd tell you what they are... but I don't

It was just great, watching them perform with a big bike backdrop

The wider audience was loving it too

This is the 5th such run for this school. There's a Futsal challenge between staff and bikies... won by the teachers

That's a concrete surface.... and guys going over on it...

Geez... I hope I don't look like a dirty old man posing with schoolgirls...

Anyhow, a fun time was had by all and the money got to where its needed...

The return ride was a lot slower without the police escort... but such is life.

__________________A man should only do the work that is required of him. To do more is a form of greed.

... and here's a shot that Phil just posted over on RideAsia.net that's worth pinching....

Last night, discussing bikes and rides and planning the ride into Laos

From my left, Greg Frazier and his wife Noor, Phil and Auke - who made the North Thailand Off Road Map (paper and GPS versions both available from Riders Corner - best damn pieces of GPS mapping I've used, that being it and the Midnight Mapper's Laos map, also available there) then in the bright blue shirt, Craig and then Leigh, both from my old home town... I used to race against Craig's dad as a teenager... then Neil and Clarissa, who live a couple of suburbs from me. Neil and Leigh are about to ride Laos and Cambodia. Auke, Phil and I are off to Laos tomorrow.

__________________A man should only do the work that is required of him. To do more is a form of greed.

I think their Karen (not sure if thats how it's spelt) I remember seeing costumes like that on girls in villages near the Burma border 25 yrs ago they were worn day to day not just special occasions. And still loving the read, a pity we didn't cross paths, just back from Laos and Cambodia

I'm back in Chiang Mai.... chasing my tail getting shipping organised. The bike is very, very dirty and needs to be spotless for Oz customs.... as does my gear.

I've got a couple of very interesting rides still to write up, but can't see that happening before the weekend.

Here's a teaser from the Chan Chouy Noi ride ("I give a little") I just did over to a remote area near Hongsa in Laos.

... stayed longer than planned as we came across a little old lady that we had to get to hospital. She'd have lost a leg, or more likely, died so we couldn't leave her there. She had an open 30mm wound in the ball of her foot and she was out working in the fields... no shoes (too poor). She's still in hospital, but should be OK.

,,,,, and before anyone comments on my boots.... about 15 km further up the road, I had to stab that one into the ground when I hit some marbles in thick bulldust. It was a bit like doing it wearing flip flops.... tape doesn't give a lot of support to the ankle. All's good though... I didn't go down (again - I did on the other ride I have yet to write up... two-up too!)... and yes, I'm "retiring" those boots now. This one was a bit of a yahoo ride though... I've got one photo I took while I was careering down a rocky hill, unable to stop.... but it'll have to wait.

... back to washing, etc.

__________________A man should only do the work that is required of him. To do more is a form of greed.

There's a town up near the Burma border in NW Thailand, Mae Hong Son, The Mae Hong Son loop ride is becoming rather well known, with its 1864 curves. We (Neil and I) decided to do it slightly differently, cutting out the Chiang Mai - Mae Sariang - Mae Hong Son bitumen section and going up the guts on the local truck and elephant tracks... ie, on the dirt. I'd already done the Mae Sariang to Chiang Mai section.

There was an event on:

The poster from the previous event gives an overview of the Loop

Our trip through the centre was around 220 kilometres and quite an interesting ride. Looking back at my Garmin log, which for some reason broke the trip into three parts for the day, we did the last 111 km, which some folks know as the elephant trail, at a moving average of 33 kph. We went through Ban Doi Rim Tam, Mae Sap Nua and then the Samoeng Wildlife Reserve. There was an "out" if it rained. We could have bailed at Yang Moen and gone north to Pai and got back onto the bitumen.

Neil, on his modified airhead BMW 1000. With his KTM forks and modified rear suspension, he's got 300mm travel at each end

This was my first ride with a pillion for a long time other than the first part of the bitumen-only charity ride and I was taking it easy.... however.... I was about to spoil a record of not binning it with a pillion on that had stood for decades. When we first got to the dirt, Neil let his tyres down, but I decided to leave it and see what it was like for a while in case we were just on a short stretch. Oops. I was taking it easy through a right hander and the front hit a rock in loose gravel and over she went. Funnily enough, I saved it. I reefed the bars - which wasn't kind to the muscles in my arms and shoulders ... and the Katoom came back up. Didn't save me from a shoulder thumping from my pillion. I stopped and let the tyres down.... but it wasn't over yet.

The road became a track

Quite pleasant riding, but not fast and with a fair way to travel

Given we had a BMW along for the ride, we had to stop to fix it (yeah, yeah.... I've got 4 of the damn things.... including an airhead).

Neil could smell burning oil. It was driveshaft oil leaking through a buggered boot, down onto the muffler.

He did the appropriate thing... tore his shirt into strips and wrapped the torn boot.

Hmmm... just noticed that. Is that a handbag hanging from my bike? My pillion had disappeared up the track in search of a public toilet or something like that. I think she found a corner in the track, which served the same purpose. Thinking back on that now... I'm wondering if that's what we crashed in? Neil got away before me and I heard his engine die and then get going again. We went around the corner and BOOF... straight down. No hope in hell of saving it.

There was this strange thumping on my right shoulder again while I was laying there under the bike. Hang on Ma'am... enough of that... here... out of the way please while I pick this up.

More coming....

__________________A man should only do the work that is required of him. To do more is a form of greed.

It turned out that Neil went down twice.. and with my earlier save, I quit the dropsies after one. The track wasn't too bad, but slippery enough to have the paddles out in places

I watched Neil go up one hill and end up with the back wheel 18" in the air... at which stage my pillion got to walk up. It turned out that it would have been OK... maybe.

There were some small villages and signs of agriculture on the way, with lovely views of the mountains too

Neil's mascot seemed to have got a dose of the runs

Might have been from the food this group of riders / drivers gave us earlier on. We pulled over for a "chat" and they gave us some sort of very bitter green nut thing, dipped into some sort of salt. Could've been betel nut and heroin for all we knew.... but they seemed nice.

As we got closer to Mae Hong Son, some of the steep sections were concreted. The concrete had broken up on the steepest stuff though.

I had a very close call on one of the concrete sections with a 4WD. He was fully on the wrong side of the road... which is wide enough (just) for a bike an a ute. I propped when I saw him... as did he... He swung left and stopped... fully blocking the track. I pulled up 300mm from his back wheel. Neil saw my rear wheel skid mark and was able to stop too. There's no point getting angry... I waited for the guy to gather his wits and get out of the way.

The views continued in northern Thai fashion. ie fantastic

The road opened out again and dried out.

Phil, from Riders Corner in Chiang Mai had said to not do it if it rained. Spot on advice. It was a bit slippery without rain. With it, that hard packed, rutted clay would have been "interesting"

Not much of a waterfall... but an appropriate spot for a wee break

We were getting close to Mae Hong Son, it was getting late, but the views just had to be soaked up

Both sides of the road. We'd been riding the spine of the ridges for ages

The ride down from up there was interesting. I rolled down the mountain with the engine off. Silly boy. Two up and with no engine braking, the rear brake boiled (it'd already been boiled recently, so it didn't take much effort to re boil it... its now been changed). With zero rear brake, I took it easy.

The run into town was pleasant too

We tried a few places looking for rooms and eventually found some about a kilometer from the music at the lake. I'm not quite sure I was a fan of my bathroom decor

Neil decided to check out the drivechain boot properly. Try this with a GS1200

Most of the lads in town for the music were on street bikes

The music was good and the scenery was up to par too. One of the muso's has played with a number of famous bands, including the Rolling Stones. IIRC he was the guy in John Nash's Aussie Experience... playing the trombone.

The Long Neck Trio were playing too and were nice enough to pose for photos with me

If I'm not mistaken, they aren't as stretched as some I've seen. From what I've read, they don't stretch the neck so much as force the rings down into their chests a bit... or they used to

The crowd were getting into the spirit of things with ricepaper lanterns

Neil WAS told....

Neil... they go this way mate

__________________A man should only do the work that is required of him. To do more is a form of greed.

We'd met up with a couple of guys from Coffs Harbour, my old home town, at the music festival. Craig and Leigh joined us in the morning. They were out and about on rented CRF250 Hondas for a week, while they waited for a new gearbox output shaft for Craig's DRZ400, being prepped for a trip through Cambodia and Laos.

We headed back towards Pai and Chiang Mai, but turned left not far out of Mae Hong Son to head up to the Burma border for a look. I was hoping our Thai speaker could help get us across the border a Ban Rak Thai

Nice bitumen roads

There were some lovely sections with fabulous corners on the way up to the border too. There were a couple of snakes on the road and we passed one large one that had a group of guys standing around it. I was in the lead and only a few hundred metres ahead, but between me passing it and the guys behind, the bystanders had put a tin can over the snake's head. Hmmm

We stopped at the border town, which is a common stopping point and had a tea tasting session at the Lake.

They had an amazing range of teas and dried fruits. One we loved and all bought was a particular type of dried almond. Absolutely no idea what they'd done to it, but it was brilliant

Up at the border post, which is on a narrow lane out of town, there was no way the guy was letting us ride in. We should have tried the senior officer that I saw from a distance later, but such is life. The guy on the gate let me go in to no-mans-land for a wander around, but the bike wasn't allowed.

This is the viewpoint over the Burmese village on the other side

and this is Burma

__________________A man should only do the work that is required of him. To do more is a form of greed.

We took some back roads back to the Mae Hong Son to Pai road and did some sightseeing along the way.... always mindful of the advisory signs

I was still having trouble with the rear brake, so the lads on the 250's would harry me on the downhills and then get the irrits when I'd blast away... 98hp to 22 will do that.

We pulled up for the night at Cave Lodge just near Lod Cave. Its a lovely area and the road in through the forest demanded and got a blast. Narrow and curvy but with good visibility and a fabulous surface. One of those really memorable roads.

We were lucky and managed to get enough rooms. Quite comfy.

Well... mostly comfy... I had a cold shower on arrival. She's a wood-fired boiler and I think they only fire her up in the morning.

Nice sink carved out of a log

I think this young Canadian lass was quite taken in by all the old bikies... but she did sit with the only young one there....

The plan had been to get Tum, our pillion back to Chiang Mai for a slightly late start for work the next morning, but she rang in and got clearance to stay another day and join us on a caving/canoing expedition.

It was interesting talking to the folks there about the area. About six years earlier, "they" had come through, shot a village headman and jailed/gaoled the farmers growing dope. Fortunately, I'm a non-user.

Our canoes for the morning were inflatables. The water level in the river was a bit low and the rapids got up to Grade 2. With more water, they get to Grade 3. Guys were sent solo, women went with the guides. Hey... we just do what we're told...

__________________A man should only do the work that is required of him. To do more is a form of greed.

It proved impossible to get photos in the rough stuff... if I wanted to stay in the canoe

There was one causeway which everyone bar one guide negotiated safely

Wandering around in the caves was interesting too

Some folks couldn't approach the task seriously

There were a few big, fast spiders in there

and thousands of bats and swifts using it as a roost. Lots of bat shit

I took a bit of a tumble here. I climbed over that fence, thinking that was the way the others had gone and went into a very deep hole on the other side. I kept the DSLR out of the water by millimeters...

We wandered off through the jungle to another cave but I didn't do the scramble in. I'd run out of drinking water by this stage and was feeling it. This was one the way.. a couple of monks live up in there

We got back to the Lodge and headed for Pai... getting there and finding rooms just as a thunderstorm hit

Lots of northern Thai scenery to be seen on the way...

Delicious roads... but more trouble with my rear brake. You'd think that in this day and age that wouldn't be a problem eh? Helloooo Mr KTM.....

There were a couple of kids at one lookout... looking for a few baht for a photo.

I must be getting soft in my old age, I handed over 20 baht and took their pics

__________________A man should only do the work that is required of him. To do more is a form of greed.